Donate Unwanted Goods During Move-Out and Help Serve Your Community
BU Sustainability’s Goodwill, Not Landfill initiative gives student possessions to local Boston charities
BU Sustainability reintroduces the Goodwill, Not Landfill initiative, where students can divert their unwanted goods from becoming waste. Photo by Chris McIntosh for BU Sustainability
Donate Unwanted Goods During Move-Out and Help Serve Your Community
BU Sustainability’s Goodwill, Not Landfill initiative gives student possessions to local Boston charities
With move-out entering the conversation, you are probably weeding through your extra stuff lying around. In an effort to make relocating from your campus residence as seamless and effective as possible, BU Sustainability can help you repurpose your items—giving your lamp, mirror, and pile of extra clothes a new loving home.
The Goodwill, Not Landfill program, which kicked off April 26, keeps the BU community smart about their waste. In a year of college, the products of so much excess consumerism can stack up. This initiative is meant to decrease the amount of stuff that can be reused from winding up in a landfill. Repurposable items include clothing, shoes, accessories, small appliances, furnishings, unopened food and toiletries, and even bikes and scooters.
“At BU, we have a goal to be zero-waste by 2030,” says Sarah Healey, the zero-waste manager at BU Sustainability. “With nearly 10 percent of our waste for the year being generated in the month of May, it is vital that we divert items like household goods, clothing, bedding, and nonperishable food from the trash.”
The initiative is organized in partnership with Residence Life, Student Wellbeing, Facilities Management & Operations, and Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, a nonprofit established in 1895 by Rev. Edgar J. Helms (STH 1893, Hon.’40).
Healey says that since the program launched in 2009, it has diverted more than 70 tons (140,000 pounds) of material annually during the move-out process. “This has a massive impact on the environment,” Healey says, “since most of the items collected are donated, which gives them a second life.”
There’s a give-one, take-one policy for this initiative. As you donate unwanted items, you’re welcome to swap them with those donated by fellow Terriers. For example, if you donate a sweater you no longer wear, take another from a bin and make it your own.
Most of BU’s trash goes to incinerators located in environmental justice communities, Healey says. These communities, often populated by low-income households and people of color, experience disproportionate environmental harms and risks, so reducing the amount of material sent to incinerators, in turn, lessens the impact on these communities.
It’s an easy, accessible way to ensure your move-out has a more positive impact on the environment, organizers say.
“This is one of our most well-received programs,” Healey says. “We have 15-plus students working on the program every year, and, when in the field, they hear frequently from students and their families about how wonderful it is that the University is running a program that does something good with these materials.”
Donation locations are listed below; linked here is the how-to for the program.
Donation Locations:
- West Campus (Rich, Sleeper, Claflin): Drop-off stations located inside each building on the main floor just beyond the security desk.
- Warren Towers: Drop-off station located on the fourth floor in the lounge near the elevator and vending machines. Important! Due to ongoing construction at Warren Towers, these bins will be removed by Tuesday, May 12.
- 610 Beacon Street: Drop-off station located on the main floor back hallway, close to the kitchen.
- Kilachand Hall: Drop-off station located inside the main entrance to the left.
- The Towers: Drop-off station located on the main floor in the recycling alcove, across from the vending machines.
- 1019 Commonwealth Avenue: Drop-off station located in the main lobby just beyond the security desk.
- Danielsen Hall: Drop-off station located in the basement lounge area.
- 10 Buick Street: Drop-off station located on the lower-level floor across from the Residence Life office.
- 33 Harry Agganis Way: Drop-off station located on the first floor in the main lobby (back right corner).
- Hojo (575 Commonwealth Avenue): Drop-off station located on the main floor to the right, under the stairs.
- 150 Riverway (Fenway Campus): Drop-off station located in the campus center, on the first floor in the main lobby.
- Peabody Hall (210 Riverway): Drop-off station located in the entrance, next to the elevator.
- 518 Park Drive (South Campus): Drop-off station located in the basement of 516-522 Park Dr. in the mail room area, under the stairs.
- 722 Commonwealth Avenue: Drop-off station located in the basement laundry room.
- 890 Commonwealth Avenue (CELOP): Drop-off station located on the second floor of the building.